An Ethnographic Study of a Single-Management Aided School in Kerala, (India): Contesting Policy, History, and Narratives

Abstract

This paper analyses the local manifestation of Kerala's aided school policy evolution, exploring historical and ethnographic narratives within a village-school ecosystem to reveal how this postcolonial reform shaped public education sector alongside liberalization's effects. It argues that family-run single-management aided schools form a distinct category, fostering a habitus rooted in property ownership and local power dynamics, which led to skewed teacher demographics, disengagement from children's needs, and infrastructural deficits—yet challenged by political purchasing power of village population to be critical about their experiences and exercise choices.